Harlequin Historical May 2017, Box Set 2 of 2 by Tatiana March

Author:Tatiana March
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781488021404
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2017-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

Gil turned to face her, finally, expecting to see fear or disgust in her gaze, and yet it seemed nothing in the expression on her small, serious face had changed. Had she heard him at all?

‘Now you know,’ he said. He should have told her long ago, as soon as he realised her ignorance. Instead, they had stumbled into a betrothal neither had wanted. ‘So you may ask the church to free you from this marriage. There must be a way. It is your right.’

He waited, expecting her to rise, to flee, to break the bonds that bound them and leave them both as they had been before. Yet the thought did not bring the relief he expected.

Instead, she shook her head, stood and reached for his hand. This time, she did not wait for him to take hers. Instead, she grasped both his hands in hers, more a blessing than a caress, and held them, tightly, between her palms.

‘Oh, my husband, do you think you are the only one who has walked with pain?’

The heat of her hand on his, the look of forgiveness in her eyes, hit him as strongly as a blow. But instead of the agony of a wound, he was filled with the warmth and comfort of a fire in winter.

Was this what a wife could give?

He pulled his hands from hers, not to escape, but so that he could trail his fingers across her cheek. Surrounded by her widow’s wimple, her face seemed light and luminous, dark eyes, pale skin, parted lips soft and sympathetic. He could not say she smiled, no. But her expression was more true, more real, than any of the smiles she had donned to disguise her feelings.

Now she knew the shame of who he was and, instead of recoiling in fear, she had reached to touch him.

His fingers bumped against the dark cloth covering her hair and he cupped her cheeks in his hands. She did not pull away, or look down, but as the heat of his hands settled on her skin, her eyes closed, her lips parted, she took a breath…

And he kissed her.

Her lips warm and soft. A moment in which she melted against him, the heat of her body, his, a promise, acceptance that cared nothing for the past.

His hands slid away from her face to her shoulders, then he pulled her close. She leaned against him, trusting in his touch, and he tightened his arms, wishing her gown, his tunic, everything that separated them would disappear.

And then, suddenly, he held a stiff, cold woman in his arms. She did not pull away, no, she was too obedient for that, but the comfort he had craved was gone. The fire he had wanted to spark sputtered like a flame on wet wood.

He set her away from him, with stiff arms and saw the flash of fear on her face. The truth.

She had said all was well and offered her comfort but, it seemed, only because it was her duty as a wife.

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